When Monster got out of her Brandon home June 5, Barbara Anderson began her month-long search to bring the beloved feline home. As the days dragged on, Anderson became distressed. "I was terrified," she remembered. "I love this cat. You have no idea."
When Bob Reina noticed something strange in a retention ditch near Talk Fusion, a business across the street from Anderson's house, he got a ladder and climbed down to get a closer looking. "[I] went down there again to look and I found an adult cat that was not walking," Reina said. "He looked like he was sick or hurt." Curled up in a corner and in bad shape, Monster was still hanging on, one month later.
Reina took the injured cat to a local animal hospital with no idea who the cat belonged to or how long the cat had been in the ditch.
When Anderson brought a flyer to the hospital in hopes that someone had randomly seen her cat, the staff had the surprise she had been hoping for, but wasn't sure would ever come. "The second I saw him, I knew," she said.
By phone, Reina described how and where he found Monster, but the conversation turned to more as they talked. "During our conversation, she had told me that her husband was a disabled veteran and that she would like to pay me back for the medical bills," Reina said.
With a bill around $5,000 for Monster, it was not a small number.
"But I told her don't worry about it," Reina said to Anderson's amazement. "I mean, her husband's made a lot of great sacrifices for the country. So, I said it would be my pleasure." Anderson broke down in tears. "What a gesture ... to have someone do something like that. There are still good people out there. He is wonderful," Barbara said with more tears in her eyes. "When he did that for us, our blessings were answered," her husband, Mark, added.
On Sunday, the Andersons met Reina for the first time. They hope some day to repay Reina for his kindness.
As for Monster, he is recovering at home and Anderson said she's never letting him out of sight again.